I Promise You
by ShadowGrafAngel
Summary: Foaly gives Artemis the proper motivation to confess to Holly thorugh an email. Will a song & a confession bring this unlikely pair together? Will they be able to look past their differences of age, species, & life spans to let their love grow? FLUFF


Disclaimer: I do NOT own Artemis Fowl or any of the characters-they ALL belong to Eoin Colfer

Not my best work by any means, but it was amusing to write all the less

My first time doing a fluff fic, so comments are appreciated

-since this is a fluff fic, the characters are a little (ok…maybe a lot) OOC

Takes place after The Time Paradox

Warning: OOC Artemis and Holly (You've been warned more than once now)

**Fowl Manor Artemis POV**

Since things had settled down after Mother's, ahem, Mom's infection and curing of the magical disease of Spelltropy (which could only be cured by the most recent addition to the family Jay-Jay) I often found myself without anything to do. During the plethora of adventures Holly, Butler and I had been through, it was, well…boring to do many of the things I once enjoyed. I no longer found the criminal escapades of my past to be of any real source of entertainment when I had at one point found them to be exhilarating and challenging to my high intellect. No more did the complex world and life of Fairy kind boggle my mind; I knew everything that truly mattered. The expeditions that Holly and company had brought into my life were everything to me, yet the probability of another occurring was slim to none. As it were today, I had been sitting in my study, much as I had been the last month or so, staring at the black screen of my computer, when I heard the sudden, obnoxious 'ding' of a new message arriving in my inbox. I sat up in my chair and jiggled the mouse to get my mail up. I scanned through the messages; spam, Aerin Conner (A girl from school), spam, Swedish bank, New York Bank, spam, Smithsonian, sp- Foaly? My brows scrunched together in bewilderment as I clicked the message; inside contained a link, picture and note:

_You'll thank me for this Mudboy._

_Your favorite Centaur _

_P.S- I like carrots and beetle juice._

Below that was a picture of a bottle with a dancing beetle on it.

I had no idea as to what he was talking about, but he had yet to steer me wrong… I clicked the link. A window popped up and I raised an eyebrow as I listened to the start of a song

**A few minutes later**

As the song finished I continued to stare at the screen. The song just described everything-

I heard a tap on my window. I turned and saw the object of my thoughts sitting on the branches outside the window; I swiftly walked over to the window to let her in. As she floated into the house, I couldn't help think about how much of a 'coincidence' it was that Foaly sent me that email right before she arrived… and then it clicked; I was rather disappointed in myself, I was supposed to be a genius and yet it took me thins long to figure out something so simple. I did not know whether I wanted to kill him or, well…thank him.

"Hey, Arty," she greeted me with that beautiful smile of hers.

"Hello, Holly," I gave her a smile, not a large, toothy one, but a smile.

"What were you doing before I interrupted you, genius?"

"Contemplating the construction of the universe, including the multitude of complex formulas that-," my lip twitched as I tried to stop myself from smirking.

"What were you really doing," she sighed exasperatedly as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Not anything of great importance, just…" a sudden thought hit me. A genius thought if I do say so myself, "listening to some music."

"The great Artemis Fowl was just sitting in his study with all these computers, live news reports, radios connected to members of criminal circles, and was just listening to music," she asked dubiously.

"Yes. I happen to enjoy music quite a bit."

"What were you even listening to; Beethoven, Chopin, or was it Mozart?"

"It's a more modern band strangely enough. I believe they are called NSYNC; they are actually quite good,"

"They must be good if you listen to them, after all, you don't care much for most of the more modern music."

"You listen, and you tell me after the song is done if they are any good by your standards."

I unplugged the headphones and turned up the volume. I hit play.

**Ohh ohh...**

When the visions around you,  
>Bring tears to your eyes<br>And all that surround you,  
>Are secrets and lies<br>I'll be your strength,  
>I'll give you hope,<br>Keeping your faith when it's gone  
>The one you should call,<br>Was standing here all along..

I had lied to her and I regretted it. She knew I did but I don't think she understood the full extent of my utter self hatred because of all I had done to her. I would eventually make up for it, but not anytime soon. When I did I would be the one that she would lean on when things got to be too much to handle. I'd be the one to give her the hope she needed to get through everything.

**And I will take  
>You in my arms<br>And hold you right where you belong  
>Till the day my life is through<br>This I promise you  
>This I promise you<strong>

I would hold her in my arms when she cried or even when she just needed one. I promise that to her now and for as long as I live…

**I've loved you forever,  
>In lifetimes before<br>And I promise you never...  
>Will you hurt anymore<br>I give you my word  
>I give you my heart (give you my heart)<br>This is a battle we've won  
>And with this vow,<br>Forever has now begun...**

I have loved her for as long as I have known her, I was just to blind to see that what I thought was admiration was really love for the elfin beauty beside me. I will never let her be hurt again, not as long as I have the power to stop it. She's always had my heart and I wouldn't want it in anyone else's possession.

**Just close your eyes (close your eyes)  
>Each loving day (each loving day)<br>I know this feeling won't go away (no..)  
>Till the day my life is through<br>This I promise you..  
>This I promise you..<strong>

When I was younger, I had been very much a fool; I had believed that the only feeling I had felt toward Captain Short, Holly, was that of admiration and comrade. Now that I have had both the time and the experiences to properly shape my views on the individuals whom remain constant in my life, I know that my feelings for her were, and are, much deeper than that. I know now that I love her with all that I am and that I will _never_stop loving her. I will do anything for her, though, even if it means never speaking of this again. I swear that to her until the day I die no matter my age; nothing will keep me from helping her in any way that I can, not even my deathbed…

**Over and over I fall (over and over I fall)  
>When I hear you call<br>Without you in my life baby  
>I just wouldn't be living at all...<strong>

I remembered the time when we had first traveled through the time paradox into No1 and the demon's domain of Hybras. Although Holly could not truly remember it and it lasted less than a minute, she had died right before me at the hands of Abbot; I remember it with painful clarity and know I would not survive it a second time around. I would not feel alive anymore if I had to give her up in my life completely again…

**And I will take (I will take you in my arms)  
>You in my arms<br>And hold you right where you belong (right where you belong)  
>Till the day my life is through<br>This I promise you baby**

I promise to comfort her during the times that she either requests or requires comfort. When Commander Root had been exterminated by Opal Koboi, I had failed Holly as both a friend and an ally in battle when I didn't help her through her grief in any shape way or form. I would die before I let her go through something like that again, but should the even occur I would do anything in my power to get her through it.

**Just close your eyes  
>Each loving day (each loving day)<br>I know this feeling won't go away (no..)  
>Every word I say is true<br>This I promise you**

I swear to always love her no matter her feelings towards me at the given time, even if her hatred of me ends my existence on this corrupt planet. I would never again lie to her as I had over the years. The pain that I had caused her since I met her up to the time I made her believe she was at fault for my…mom's illness made me ill as I thought about it. I had made her _cry_…

**Every word I say is true  
>This I promise you<br>Ooh, I promise you...**

As the music faded I refused to look at her. I would do whatever she needed, but that would not make her rejection any less painful. I waited for what felt like a century for her to give some kind of indication that she was even still alive. I heard her take in a jagged breath and I closed my eyes. I would accept whatever she told me. I would do anything for her. I felt her shift beside me, but I still did not look at her. I didn't want to see the disgust that was most likely on her face. Of course she would be disgusted, I thought, the _mudboy_ who always ends up messing up her life just admitted, albeit through a song, that he loved her.

I felt her hand on my shoulder and I flinched. I could practically feel the rejection's sting now.

"Artemis," she began.

"Relax," I told her, "I do not expect anything from you, Captain." I felt her flinch when I used her title, we were both so use to using first names or nicknames it felt wrong to call her that.

"Artemis, that's not-"

"I already know what you are going to say so it is pointless to say them to me."

"I don't think you know what I'm going to say, Artemis"

I sighed. "Yes I do. You were just about to let me know that we are not and never will become that. You were going to enlighten me that what I just exposed to you repulsed you. You were just about to demand of me to never bring this up and then you were going to activate your wings and vacate my home with no thought of ever returning. I do believe I covered it all, am I not correct?"

My eyes were still closed so I did not see her hand coming to slap me. I felt the impact of her open handed hit against the side of my face and my eyes sprang open as I fell to the ground. I had no time to move before she straddled me; pining me to the floor by means of me not wanting to hurt her by throwing her off. She grabbed my shirt collar and yanked me up so that our faces were close to one another.

"Will you shut up for one bloody minute? I'm trying to talk and you keep interrupting me." She waited a moment, checking that I was not going to interrupt again. "I'm not disgusted by your feelings, Artemis; quite the opposite, I'm… ecstatic that you feel the same way about me as I do you." A smile spreads across her face as she watched my surprise with blatant amusement.

"Didn't call that one now did you, Arty," she teased, her warm lips against my ear.

I didn't have time to reply to that, her lips were attached to mine too fast for me to get so much as a word out; not that I would. Yes, I am a teenage male with a beautiful woman straddling me, but I am still smart enough to know when to just shut up and kiss the woman I love…

**Underground Foaly POV**

"Foaly," I glanced away from my computer screens, "a box just came through from up top, what should we do about it," a young pixie called through the open doorway. I turned my chair around to face him and looked at him in bemusement; who would be shipping anything here from up top?

"Who does it say sent it?"

"It says it's from Fowl, Sir. Fowl has been fairly…safe," he grimaced at the word in reference to our former enemy, "but there really isn't any protocol for something like this."

"Who does it say it's addressed to, or doesn't it say?" The Mudboy would most likely be sending it to either Holly or me, but I couldn't think of what he could possibly be sending either of us.

"You, Sir…what should we do about it," a golden brow rose in question.

I stared at him in amazement at his stupidity, "We should probably begin with it coming to my office, don't you think," I said giving him a look I had learned from watching human shows; the 'duh' look often worn by teenagers when faced by the simplicity of their parental figure's thought process. After sending a jerky nod in my general direction, the pixie flew out of the area to retrieve the package.

When he returned, the pixie and two others held in their arms (rather awkwardly if I do say so myself) a wooden crate that was bigger than all three combined. "What in Julius's name is that," I exclaimed as it was set on the floor in front of the center of my work space. I dug through the box of ancient (by our standards) human technology, to locate the one and only crowbar existing here in Haven or the Lower Elements. I pried open the crate and the most delicious odor wafted up to me. What the bloody hell was the Mudboy doing sending me-oh…this was good, this was _very_ good.

"Well…well…well it looks to me like things have worked out to my advantage here," I said to myself grinning manically.

I walked over to the intercom situated behind my primary desk, leaned back in my chair, and turned the intercom on.

"Attention fairies, for I bring fabulous news…well for me, not so much any of you," I chuckled. "Fowl has succeeded." I said taking a large chunk out of the first of many carrots and a sip from a bottle of the Lower Element's finest Beetle Juice. I turned the speaker off after I heard the groans of workers losing part of their paychecks and started at the sudden noise that notified me of a new message in my inbox. The note was very short, sweet, and to the point:

_Thank you_

_ Your favorite genius_

_ P.S- take down the surveillance equipment yesterday or Short will have your head on a pike no matter how good of friends you two are._

Underneath the brief note was a picture; Holly cuddled up into the Mudboy...Artemis's side. I tried not to notice many things about the picture, but what I couldn't stop myself from seeing was the dark purple bruises that seemed to cover the entirety of both their necks and what little was visible of their chests.


End file.
